ABUJA, Nigeria — Property owners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are anxiously awaiting the next steps from the FCT Administration after the expiration of a 14-day grace period granted by President Bola Tinubu for the payment of long-overdue ground rents.
The grace period, which ended on Monday, June 16, 2025, followed the controversial revocation and sealing of over 4,700 properties across Abuja.
The affected properties, some of which had unpaid ground rents spanning between 10 and 43 years, belong to individuals, corporate entities, political parties, government agencies, and foreign missions.
The reprieve from the president had temporarily halted the Wike-led FCT Administration’s enforcement drive, giving defaulters time to regularise their payments.
In addition to settling the outstanding rents, owners were fined between ₦2 million and ₦5 million, depending on the location of the property.
A senior official at the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), who spoke to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the grace period had elapsed.
However, no new directive had yet been issued on whether enforcement actions — including property resealing or permanent revocation — would resume.
“Many of the defaulters have paid up,” the official said, but declined to specify whether high-profile properties, such as the head office of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national secretariat, or Ibro Hotels, had complied.
At the AGIS office on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, it was observed that dozens of people queueing to make payments, with agency staff offering guidance on navigating the Remita platform used for transactions.
Some attendees said they were acting on behalf of principals or organisations whose properties were previously sealed.
“I am here to pay for my office. I have been coming since last Friday, but hopefully it will be over today,” one individual said, declining to identify the specific office involved.
Lere Olayinka, Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the FCT Minister, did not respond to enquiries on the matter.
He had earlier explained that payments were being processed online and that it would be difficult to determine which entities had paid at the current stage.
Despite the general push for compliance, sources confirmed that properties belonging to foreign embassies, while listed among defaulters, would not be sealed.
“All foreign embassies were covered under the international convention and by this, are exempted from some of these things,” a senior AGIS officer said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also assured that the issue involving foreign missions would be resolved diplomatically and without disruption to international obligations.
Among the previously named defaulters were high-profile institutions including the Central Bank of Nigeria, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), 39 foreign embassies, and several political party headquarters.
Although the FCT Administration has not yet clarified what steps it will take now that the presidential grace period has expired, officials at AGIS confirmed that payments are still being accepted pending further directives.
